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In my mission to educate, inform and inspire the average Joe to invest, I have just one question to ask:

What’s keeping you out of the market?

I will address some common reasons that I hear. I hope that after you read what I have to say, if you’re not in the stock market you will strongly reconsider…

Reason 1: I don’t make enough money.

This is the best time in history for the average person to get into the market.

Many years ago, you had to have a significant amount of money to open an investment account. This left most of the middle and lower income classes out in the cold.

Well, those days are gone. With apps like Robinhood, you can open an account with zero dollars and buy one share a month, if that’s all you can afford.

You may be thinking, “What will a share a month do?” Let me tell you – over time, it can do quite a lot!

Reason 2: I don’t know anything about investing.

For starters, I would recommend purchasing my quick beginners’ guide, The Stock Market Is For Everyone. In it, you will learn everything you need to begin investing.

I tell people that when you buy shares in a company, you are becoming an owner. Think of businesses that you would like to be an owner in, and invest in those companies!

Reason 3: The stock market is too risky.

Over the last 100 years, the stock market has risen an average of 8% per year.

During that time period we have had: multiple recessions, world wars, a Depression, political unrest, presidential assassinations, several financial disasters, and a housing crisis the likes of which the world had never seen.

In spite of all these catastrophic events, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gone from 100 in the 1950s to 25,313 today.

If you invested $10,000 into an S&P 500 index fund 50 years ago, it would be worth $50 million today!

The stock market is not without risk. Time in the market, however, will minimize this risk.

When it comes to investing, in the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

This week was historic for the stock market, because Apple became the first company in the history of the United States with a market cap of one trillion dollars.

This means that over the last 37 years, Apple has created a tremendous amount of wealth for its shareholders. Were you one of them?

If not, let’s play one of my favorite games…“what if?”

What if you made very little money, and all you could save every month was $10? And what if you wanted to invest in Apple when it went public at $22 a share?

At the end of 12 months, you would have $120 to buy as many shares of Apple as you could buy. On a given year, you’d be able to buy 2 to 5 shares depending on the price.

The total amount you would have invested over 37 years would be $4440.

If you reinvested any dividends you received, the value of your investment today would be over $500,000.

And that’s only based on an investment of $10 per month!

It doesn’t take into account your receiving raises and other additional income over time and being able to invest more. Imagine if you’d doubled or tripled your monthly investment to $20 or $30. In that case, you could be looking at $750,000 or $1,000,000.

I’ve decided that once a month, I will talk about a company that I am a partner with.

I will cover who the company is, why I bought the stock, and where the stock could go from here.

I will tell you my position size, as well as my current profit or loss.

It’s one thing for me to blog about why I am so pro-investing. It’s quite another thing to show you that I “eat my own cooking”!

So…without further ado, let’s get started.

Who:Sangamo Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SGMO)

What they do: Sangamo Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company.

The company is focused on translating science into genomic therapies that transform patients’ lives using the company’s platform technologies in genome editing, gene therapy, gene regulation and cell therapy. T

The company has clinical and preclinical programs in development. They have partnered certain programs with biopharmaceutical companies to expedite clinical and commercial development.

Why I bought Sangamo: Sangamo is a turnaround story with some incredible technology.

Over the last nine years, they basically had two promising clinical programs that died. The technology was promising, but the leadership wasn’t.

A few years ago, they hired a new CEO…and things started to turn around quickly! They’ve restarted all their programs, and have captured three very important programs: genome editing, gene therapy, and cell editing.

You may have heard of a very exciting and controversial gene editing technique called CRISPR. CRISPR has yet to be tested in a human in the United States. Sangamo has its own gene editing technology – called zinc finger – that’s been tested in hundreds of patients.

They have a very deep pipeline of drugs for a small company – some very exciting partnerships with Gilead Sciences, and two partnerships with Pfizer.

Where Is the stock going?

On September 5, 2018, Sangamo will be reporting results on safety for the first in-human clinical trial using their zinc finger technique for gene editing.

This data read out will be absolutely huge, and could propel the stock from a current price of $13.50 to $40 literally overnight.

On the other hand, the stock could drop 50% if the data is not favorable.

Sangamo has results for about five different clinical trials coming out over the next 18 months.

My current holding:

Number of shares I own: 255

Return to date: -41%

Total investment: $6000

Current value: $3557.25

As you know if you follow my blog, every investment I make is with a long-term mentality. My intention is to hold Sangamo for at least 10 years, and see what happens.

I hope this information has been helpful and will help you gain insight into how to look at investing.

Biotechnology stocks come with a great deal of volatility and risk. Early stage biotech companies can lose 80% of their value overnight if they report unfavorable information regarding a failed FDA trial.

However…biotechs can offer magnificent returns.

I believe that every investor should have at least one biotech company in their portfolio. Here are ten that you may want to consider:

1. Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG)

With a $60 billion market cap, Celgene is one of the largest biotech companies in the world. It’s a biopharmaceutical company primarily engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapies designed to treat cancer and immune-inflammatory related diseases.

2. BioMarin (NASDAQ: BMRN)

This company develops and commercializes innovative biopharmaceuticals for serious diseases and medical conditions.

3. FivePrime (NASDAQ: FPRX)

FivePrime Therapeutics is a small clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel protein therapeutics.

This Company is working on a non-addictive opioid! the drug they are working on can provide patients with pain relief, without the addictive qualities! How exciting!

7. Sangamo (NASDAQ: SGMO)

Despite the hype regarding CRISPR, Sangamo is the leader in gene editing…and is the first company outside of China to use gene editing in a human being. We will receive the data from this clinical trial at the end of the summer; it could be a huge milestone.

8. Bluebird Bio (NASDAQ: BLUE)

Bluebird is a clinical stage biotech that specializes in cancer immunotherapies, drugs that help the immune system identify and kill cancer cells.

9. Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL)

Exelixis is a cancer-focused biotech, with two drugs already on the market and several more in the pipeline.

10. Ziopharm (NASDAQ: ZIOP)

A biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialization of small molecule and synthetic biology approaches to new cancer therapies.

Companies like Celgene and BioMarin are proven winners, and will likely continue to be so. The other companies on this list are developmental and smaller, so they come with a larger degree of risk.

Each company, however, has very good management and promising drug prospects that could add significant shareholder value in the future.

Disclaimer/Disclosure Statement: Information in this article is not intended to be a recommendation to invest in any stock. Rather, it is presented for readers’ education and consideration when making their own investment decisions. The author is long Sangamo.

When looking for companies to become a partner in, you want to invest in companies that have a bright future. We only care about what’s going to happen – not what already happened.

With that in mind, here are ten companies that should continue to do well over the next 5 to 10 years:

Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS):Stratasys is a provider of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions for the creation of parts used in manufacturing.

The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD): A technology company that helps businesses manage their digital advertising platforms more efficiently.

HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS): Provides a cloud-based marketing sales software platform. The software helps customers attract people to their website, convert them into customers, and delight them, leading to new business referrals.

iQIYI (NASDAQ: IQ): One of the hottest IPOs this year. This company has been called the Netflix of China.

Teladoc (NYSE: TDOC): Not even doctors are immune from being disrupted! Teladoc allows you to see your doctor without the hassle of having to go there.

Editas (NASDAQ: EDIT): Editas is a leader in the highly controversial and exciting field of gene editing. They are one of the pioneers in a groundbreaking new technology called CRISPR (pronounced “crisper”).

Axon (NASDAQ: AAXN): Axon used to be called Taser before it changed its name. They develop, manufacture and sell conducted electrical weapons for use by law enforcement, military, corrections, and private security companies.

Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU): Operates a television streaming platform. The company connects users to streaming content, enables content publishers to build and monetize audiences, and provides advertisers with the capabilities to engage customers.